E and I went on a big date on Saturday night. It earned "big" status through a combination of factors, including being in Chicago, attendance at a restaurant that frowns upon children, tickets to a show, and me wearing a belt. This is different from a "normal" date, which features us plowing through a fried appetizer and sharing a hamburger at The Yardhouse while desperately hoping the bill arrives before Matthew emphatically decides he has had enough of the hi-chair. In Glenview. With at least two of the three of us wearing sweatpants.
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| At the in-laws just before the date |
Our evening out began in July, when we took out a second mortgage on a house we don't even own to purchase balcony seats to The Book of Mormon, a Broadway show written by the creators of South Park that won every single Tony Award ever. We bought the tickets within hours of them going on sale and locked down Grandma Jeanne to babysit. We were in no mood to botch this date.
SIDE NOTE: The date occurred on December 22, which means I could have made some impossibly obvious, dreadfully overdone joke about "only the Mayans could stop this date." But I didn't. You're welcome. The worst thing about the world not spinning off its axis and hurling us all into the outer reaches of the mesosphere is the fact that we will have to continue to listen, from now until the end of time, to the vast majority of the population insisting upon making tired, criminally unfunny jokes about overexposed cultural phenomena.
After putting the date on hiatus for three month, we then looked to book a restaurant reservation in early November. We tried The Girl and The Goat, arguably the trendiest restaurant in Chicago. Shockingly, we got a reservation. At 10:45 PM. I had no intention of being awake that late, so we moved on to the next option. Unfortunately, Ruby Tuesday's was also booked. We settled upon Boka, a Michelin Star Rated restaurant that is owned by the same group that owns The Girl and The Goat.
Needless to say, Boka did not disappoint. We each ordered the tasting menu. Mine was better because Wife decided to show up pregnant and with an aversion to seafood, so they gave her vegetarian options for the first two courses and no wine. Also, her third and fifth courses were cooked well done. I, on the other hand, enjoyed two seafood dishes, two medium rare meats and a treasure trove of wines I really can't afford. NOM NOM NOM NOM NOM.
Because we are just that classy, we took pictures of every course. The wait staff did not mind at all; they are used to food critics taking pictures. On iPhones.
Course 1 (E's first; we were told to start both our courses on the bottom right and go clockwise):
Field
greens, rosemary-cranberry vinaigrette, granola clusters, yogurt meringue,
stewed cranberries; Red inca quinoa, bibb lettuce, bruleed grapefruit, crispy plantain, avocado mousse; Bok choy, yuzu, black garlic vinaigrette, 5 spice peanuts; Roasted baby beets, banyuls vinegar, fourme d’ambert cheese, hazelnut cake croutons, grilled quince, crispy cardoons
Oyster, seaweed salad, passionfruit oyster liquor; Tangerine
marinated snapper carpaccio, sunchoke chips, hijiki, pickled radish, tangerine
ice; Tea smoked hamachi, kabocha squash, tofu, longan, curried crosnes, cara
cara oranges; Yellowfin tuna sashimi, chermoula, mojo yuca, tuna tiradito,
trout roe, dosakai, white soy
Course 2 (again, E's first):
Celery root soup, crayfish caramelli, chervil, black winter truffle
Steelhead trout, ancient grains, roasted brassica, housemade soy vinegar
gelee, matsutake broth
Course 3 (please note, this was not served to us partially-eaten; we forgot to take the picture until halfway through the plate):
Muscovy duck breast, duck leg tamale, hoja santa, wild rice, black kale,
crispy duck tongue, acorn squash
Course 4:
Berkshire pork cheek, spicebush, potato puree, rainbow chard, sweet
potato batons, crispy spicy chestnuts
Course 5:
Venison
loin, apple bacon sauce, beer braised collard greens, confit baby turnips,
carrot ribbons, mole mustard jus
Course 6:
Acorn
squash cake, pumpkin sorbet, chai yogurt
Course 7:
Peanut butter
semifreddo, flourless chocolate cake, miso soy caramel, pear
No, Course 7 did not come with a side of jacketed handsome; we want you to see the dessert wine. When paired with the peanut butter semifreddo, the wine makes the entire course taste like a PBJ sandwich. Let the record show that this was the chef's intention, and not just the awkward metaphor of someone who loves the Tour of Italy combo at The Olive Garden. It was quite fun and delicious. I am sad knowing that never again will I have any reason whatsoever to write "semifreddo".
And finally, as if the first seven courses were not enough, a pallete-cleansing candy tray that probably had a fancier name. This included: marshmellows, merigue, jellies, fudge, and peppermint bark
As should be expected, all seven wines were fantastic. The first dessert wine (Course 6) had a very interesting story--it was a Hungarian wine that was popular in the 1940s. However, it was almost destroyed by Communism, as the government destroyed most of the vines of the grape used to make the wine. As our server stated, "after the Berlin Wall fell, Western wine makers rushed into Hungary to salvage the grapes, saving this terrific wine that we now enjoy." Cool story, no doubt, but I can't help but wonder about the starving, desperate Hungarians who watched the Westerners rush into their country, not to help them rebuild after decades of tortuous Commmuist rule, but rather to steal their grapes. And we wonder why the world hates us.
For most of the meal, we were the only ones in the restaurant, which was not just awesome, but easily explained: we showed up at 5:00 PM just like all the other cool kids. Our servers were outstanding, and the company was divine. It was wonderful to be able to just enjoy alone time together.
And so we continued on the the show. There's not really much to say about it. It was actually slightly disappointing--I expected to laugh more. Don't get me wrong, it had plenty of signature South Park-type moments of unbelievably hysterical, overwhelmingly offensive moments, but it also had several long lulls. All in all, it was enjoyable, and true to the form of the writers, used ridiculousness and vulgarity to actually make some very strong observations about African poverty, religion, and the need to help and love one another.
The whole night was a fantastic Hanukkah/Christmas/Holiday/OK That's Great See You Later Matthew present to each other. It's great to know we still have it.
